The highly sexual, decidedly adult stories in Embraces : Dark Erotica delve into non-traditional modern dark fiction as opposed to the clichéd 'erotic horror' genre known for 'sensuous vampires, supernaturally virile demon lovers and winsome ghostly waifs whose weird wantonness overwhelms even the most wary' etc (Paula Guran, Dark Echo Horror website).
According to Paula Guran the anthology, initially called New Blood: Dark Erotica, was to be published by the Masquerade, a leading publisher of erotic fiction. After it was rejected by that company Venus or Vixern, another publisher of erotic fiction, took up an option on it, and the new title was chosen to better reflect the overall theme of the collected stories (ctd. Dark Echo Horror website).
